Cheshire Smile
by AkaNoKarasu
Summary: Naruto Uzumaki, a boy who was not well liked among his village for reasons unknown to him, finds a new friend in a boy named Akira. Wait! Akira is a girl! [AU! Older!Naruto (Itachi's age) NarutoxOC friendship! (For now no pairings) ] Full summary inside!
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: Naruto Uzumaki, a boy who was not well liked among his pear for reasons unknown to him, finds a new friend in a boy named Akira. Wait! Akira is a girl?! [AU! Older!Naruto (Itachi's age) NarutoxOC friendship! (For now no pairings) ]**

**Longer summary: Akira is a girl who was orphaned by the Third Shinobi War. Since she was a young age and had no memory of her real family the orphanage gave her the name Akira because of the girl's ability to quickly pick up any knowledge. After catching the eye of Orochimaru and asked off she wanted to enter the Academy, she agreed without much thought. There, she met a loud and irritating boy by the name of Naruto Uzumaki, who had managed to gain the dislike of most villagers. Intrigued by this fact Akira watched the boy for a while. When one day Naruto stumbled upon her training alone in one of the trainings field after he was chased by ANBU for another one of his notorious pranks he begged her to let him train with her and much like everybody else Naruto mistook Akira to be a boy, a mistake which Akira would not correct for the next few years. Taking pity on the boy Akira agreed to help him soon realizing the potential that Naruto Uzumaki had and which was being wasted by the stupid instructors, with the help of Akira the two graduate two years early. Read as the two conquer the ninja world and Naruto tries to archive his dream of being Hokage!**

**A/N: Not to confuse anybody but by my guess Naruto was raised by a caretaker rather then put in an orphanage, but this is only my take on the story, so bear with me! Also, yes Akira is my OC, but this story will mainly focus on Naruto even though it may not seem that way judging by the first chapter, I merely am presenting Akira's reasoning for sticking with Naruto, later it will mostly be about Naruto.**

**As for the Japanese expressions. I will be using suffixes such as –chan, but names will come before surnames, just to clear that up.**

**Chapter 1**

"**Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend."  
― Albert Camus**

Akira sighed as she looked round the classroom full of rowdy children. She didn't really understand why, since she was merely an orphan, why she would get the chance to go to the ninja academy. Must be because of that _nice _man which creepily enough resembled a snake. He had seemed very intrigued by the silent girl. Enough to watch her every move as she easily copied the tricks some young genin did to entertain the orphans they had to watch as their D-rank mission.

"Everyone settle down! Now that everybody is calm, I would like to introduce your new classmate, Akira," said the instructor, clearly irritated by the children's misbehavior. The introduction was only necessary because Akira had missed the first week of class. Some papers just hadn't been right and Akira was stuck in the Hokage's office to help sort out what she could the rest being taken care of by the nuns at the orphanage.

Akira could tell that some of the children were unnerved by her appearance. Truth to be told Akira did not dress how little girl usually did. Her grey hair was cut short and spiked up and her clear blue eyes were set to look straight in front of her in an impassive manner, but what probably stuck out most about her was the bandana that she had tied to hide the lower part of her face, concealing her nose and mouth. It was black in colour and had a Cheshire cat smile printed in the front giving the 6-year-old a rather creepy appearance.

She also wore a lose black long-sleeved (the sleeves long enough to cover her hands) shirt and some standard grey pants accompanied by dark grey shinobi sandals (courteous of the academy).

"What's up with that guy?" she heard some of the children mutter to each other silently. Ah, yes, since she chose such shapeless attire and hid most her face people were rather often prone to mistake the poor girl for a boy and Akira didn't have the will nor wish to correct any of them. Heck, most the orphanage staff thought she was a boy.

"Akira, go on and pick a seat so we can begin the lesson." Akira nodded at the instructor before scanning the room over, choosing to sit next to a quiet jet-black haired boy with onyx eyes, whose named Akira would later learn to be Itachi, a prodigy of the Uchiha clan that would graduate the academy only a year from now.

Itachi had only given Akira a polite smile before turning back to listen to the teacher. Akira followed his example. Half an hour into the lecture the door was burst open by an angry jonin, carrying a blond haired boy, covered in red pain by the scruff of his shirt and muttering something too quiet for Akira to catch.

The instructor scoffed darkly. "Uzumaki, why does this not surprise me? Go and take your seat, you're late enough as it is." The boy just grinned before being sat down by the jonin who practically stormed out of the classroom slamming the door shut after him. Almost instantly the whispering began to fill the quiet classroom as Uzumaki walked to the back of the class and took a seat away from everybody else. Akira merely raised a brow before retuning her attention to the lecture.

That had been the first time Akira had seen the boy who smiled his pain away.

…

_A few months later_

It had taken only a month for the instructors to realize what Itachi, the boy Akira had chose to sit next, was capable of. And so he was moved up a few classes. Not that Akira cared much, now she sat alone and was perfectly at ease with the situation.

Currently Akira was stuck doing the exercise she hated the most. Taijutsu, oh how she dreaded it and for good reason, she was not very successful at it. But in Akira's defense, she thought having a tactic sense was a lot more important, that way no matter how strong her opponent may be, she could always trick him and beat him before he knew what was coming. But no, the instructor would just not listen!

"Next up. Akira and Naruto Uzumaki!" Paired up with the only person who was probably worse than her at taijutsu, just her luck. Well, she supposed she was lucky, at least she wouldn't have to sit through another lecture on how important taijutsu was.

Akira sighed getting up from her seat and setting her book about genjutsu down to walk up to the small field where she was supposed to spar.

Once in the ring Akira patiently waited for Naruto to get there so they could begin. Patience the instructor didn't seem to have.

"Uzumaki, we do not have the whole day, hurry up!"

The blonde run faster while other kids tried to trip him, a grin stretched across his face before he jumped into the ring falling into a sloppy and to Akira's eyes clearly wrong pose. Akira carefully adjusted his position like that instructor showed.

"Alright, I'm gonna kick your ass!" yelled the hyperactive boy grinning at Akira. Akira merely raised a brow waiting for the instructor to announce the begging of the spar.

"Begin!"

It took Akira three precise hit and a few block of Naruto's sloppy wanna-be technique to knock the boy down.

"Go Akira! Man, that Naruto, you really are that death last." Who would have guessed 6-year-olds were so cruel?

Akira watched as Naruto picked himself up and dusted himself off before grinning at the class, while sheepishly running the back of his head.

"I meant to do that! Hahahah…" The class only laughed harder.

Akira frowned beneath the bandana.

…

_2 years later_

Akira was standing in the middle of the trainings field in front of a tree stump that was meant of practicing taijutsu, conveniently padded so the hands weren't damaged.

Akira began to hit it with her hands and legs. About a year ago she realized she would never graduate of she didn't pick her taijutsu skills a notch up. She didn't peculiarly stand up from the other student, but only because Akira dreaded extra work. Now, she wasn't a prodigy, but with a bit more work Akira could graduate well before the others, too bad it was so damn difficult to think during a written exam. Also, if she did really well, they could, now imagine the horror, pick her up a year or two. That would mean so much more work! No! Way!

"Excuse me. Have you by any chance seen a blonde haired boy?" asked the jonin politely as he stepped into the training field Akira was currently occupying.

At the shake of Akira's head the jonin sighed before dismissing himself. Akira didn't think much about it before continuing to train again.

Half an hour later an out of breath blonde boy appeared in the training filed while glancing round, his eyes open wide in fear. Akira didn't think much about it. Must be another one of his notorious pranks that had the ANBU chasing him. Naruto glanced round again before squealing and hiding in a tree. Akira was surprised at the speed of his climb, but didn't comment nor quit her training. And soon enough an ANBU entered the clearing while looking round.

"Have you seen…?" he trailed of as he watched Akira point into a random direction. Thanking her he quickly run after where he assumed Naruto went.

A few minutes later Naruto climbed back down before turning to Akira with a grin. "Thanks a lot! I thought I was a goner there!" he said laughing pleasantly. Akira ignored him.

"Say, aren't you in my class, Akira, right?" Akira chose to grace him with a nod, but honestly only out of pity since nobody really talked to the boy expect to mock or yell at him.

"great, my name is Naruto Uzumaki, I'm gonna be Hokage! Dattebayo!" Akira chose not to comment the rather odd introduction, instead only mutter a quiet _I know_.

"Say, what are you doing out here?" Naruto just wasn't giving up.

"Training," the girl stated simply.

"Really? Say…uh, can I… perhaps… if you…aren't busy or anything…I mean…" Akira stopped in her training to raise a brow at him.

"Yes?"

"Can I train with you?" Akira merely shrugged. She didn't know what possessed her to agree, perhaps it was the fact that he was so alone, without anybody, much like herself. While nobody yelled at Akira, she didn't have any friends either, the bandana just put of most girls her age and the fact most people thought she was a guy didn't help either.

"Sure. Want to spar?"

If Naruto's grin had been any wider his face would have split in half.

…

"Your taijutsu suck," stated Akira simply as Naruto laid in front of her. It hadn't even taken her 5 minutes to take him down. His style was so bad it was practically none existent.

"Hehehe…" Akira scoffed.

"Stop that."

Naruto looked confused. "Stop what?"

She said, "Pretending."

Naruto smile sadly. "I'm sorry?" Akira just shook her head before offering him a hand to get up.

"Come on. Let's work on your stance first." Now Naruto smiled for real.

…

Akira really didn't know what to make of the boy. It had been a week ago that Akira had started to train with Naruto after school and him improvement was astounding. Now he managed to beat Akira in record time, though his ninjutsu was still terrible and his genjutsu none existing.

"Ha, I beat you again!" he bragged happily as Akira scoffed from his position on the ground. Carefully sitting up she rubbed the back of her head.

Naruto's look quickly turned form boastful to apologetic. "Did I hurt you? I didn't mean to!" he yelled quickly going over to check the back of Akira's head for injury.

"I'm fine," she scoffed swatting his arms away. Naruto just grinned. Akira could swear his face was stuck that way most the time.

"Ne, Akira-san?"

"Hmm?" she acknowledged him.

"Why do you wear a mask?"

Akira got up titling her head to the side. "You mean the bandana?" At Naruto's nod she shrugged. "It's the only thing I have. I was found with it." And that was as much as Akira would ever say about it.

She would probably never admit that she kept it like that in hopes that somebody would recognize it and with it her. That one day she would find her real family. Even if it was creepy, it was the only thing she had, of course she realized that it may very well be meaningless, but the hope that it meant something was too strong for that thought to prevail.

"Alright!" Suddenly his stomach growled loudly. "Come on! Let's go and get some ramen!" He yelled while pulling her along. Sometimes she was glad Naruto had a one-track mind completely focused on ramen and becoming Hokage.

After pulling her halfway across the village they came to a stop in front of a stand that read _Ramen Ichiraku_. Akira wasn't too fond of ramen, but had quickly realized that it was the only place they didn't toss Naruto out of.

"Hello old man! I'm back and I brought Akira with me!" Akira winced at his loud voice while Teuchi only laughed. Teuchi smile at them both. It seemed he was quite fond of Naruto, probably because all the boy ate was ramen earning Teuchi a fortune.

"Hello there Naruto-kun, ah and you too Akira-kun!" Akira refused to answer back. Honestly she was allowed to be offended. "What would you two like?"

"I will have two miso ramen please!" It surprised Teuchi that since he started taking Akira along Naruto's manners had somewhat improved. He was still loud and boastful, but he knew his limit as well.

"A miso ramen for me, please." Akira said while looking up from her book.

On the other hand Akira was quiet and withdrawn, how those two had become friends was a miracle to Teuchi and everybody else for that matter, but the old man was glad none the less that Naruto had managed to find a friend.

"Ne, ne, Akira-san?" Akira hummed to let him know she was listening, but didn't look up from her book. Naruto continued, "Can you help me with the clone jutsu?" It looked like he was expecting her to say no, but was pleasantly surprised when he saw her nod.

"Great. Let's go!" Akira sighed as she watched hi ran off.

"Naruto, your ramen!" And he was back in a flash.

"Right, sorry! Hahahaha." Akira just shook her head.

…

"That's the worst clone I have ever seen," stated Akira drily as Naruto looked appalled by what he had created.

"But it's something, right?" he asked hopefully, but his expression dropped as he watched Akira shake her head.

"How much chakra do you use anyway?"

"Huh, I don't know…" he muttered. Akira frowned.

"I can't really tell, I'm no Hyuuga, but I think you put in too much." Naruto frowned.

"Too much, I put in as little as possible!" he yelled frustrated. Akira waved him down with his hand, when he calmed down he continued.

"Yeah, I figured, you see, I have noticed that out of all the students you have the most stamina and your chakra reserves seemed to be the biggest as well."

Naruto grinned proudly. "That's great!"

Akira shook her head. "It is good but has some drawbacks. You see, out of all the academy students your chakra control is the worst." And Naruto's grin promptly dropped from his face.

"Ah come on! That's not fair!"

Akira laughed good-naturedly. "That's what some would say about your chakra reserves. Anyway, I know a few chakra control exercises I wanted to try out I think you would benefit from the as well."

"Alright!"

_5 minutes later_

"Akira-san, how is climbing a tree gonna help my chakra control?"

Akira smile beneath her bandana. "Ah, but you won't be using your hands," she said cheerfully. Fake cheerfulness, that is.

Naruto started at her before yelling. "Without my hands?! But, that's impossible!" Akira sighed.

"Naruto-san, we are ninja, nothing is impossible. Now, I have only tried this once before managed to master, it so I'm moving on to water walking, hence why we are on this training field," she said while mentioning towards the lake that was next to them. "Now, watch closely."

And with that said Akira began to walk onto the tree as Naruto watched fascinated. A few quick strides brought Akira to the top of the tree before she jumped back down.

"That was awesome!" Again, he was very loud in Akira's opinion, but she didn't have the heart to tell him.

"Alright, now you try. Just focus chakra to the sole of your foot and you should be able to do it. However, be careful-"

Before Akira could finish Naruto had already managed to blast himself away from the tree. Walking over to him Akira continued.

"If you put in too much chakra you get blown away, too little and you won't stick. The trick is to keep a constant flow of chakra in your feet rather than to gather it for each steep, took me a while to figure it out." Naruto listen intently. "usually this exercise is done by genin, but I figured with your large chkra reserves it would do you some good."

"Hey, you're not a genin either!" he yelled somewhat insulted.

"That may be, but I have much better grades." Naruto pouted.

"Yeah, yeah, stupid school…" he muttered to himself. "Ah, Akira-san, if you're so smart, you could be at the top of the class, but you're only average!" Again, Akira winced at his loud voice.

"That may be, but that would men too much work for me." Naruto frowned.

"But why, I can't wait to graduate! Why would you not use the chance to graduate early!" Akira just shook her head.

"That is something I will tell you later. Now, I'm off to water walking and you just keep practicing."

Naruto eagerly nodded. "I will do it in no time! Dattebayo!"

…

3 hours later Akira had managed to empty nearly all her chakra, the same of which could not be said about Naruto who had now began to use a kunai to mark his progress. She had managed to figure out the point and how to do it, but it took her three hour and by that time she had no more chakra to try it out.

"Naruto-san, I'm done for today!" she yelled at him to gain his attention.

Dropping down from the tree the blonde turned to her, frowning.

"Ah, come on, stay a little longer I almost got to the top!"

Akira shook her head. "No can do. I have a curfew you know? Good thing it's only for one more month. Since I will be a shinobi the Hokage has agreed to supply me with my own place." Naruto grinned.

"The old man is giving you your own place, awesome! Hopefully it will be close to mine!" he yelled excitedly. Akira merely nodded at him.

"Whatever, I will be seeing you tomorrow."

"Yeah, bye Akira-san!"

…

**This is just an idea that has been stuck in my head for a while now so I hope you like it, anyway, review, favourite, follow, do whatever. Any criticism is welcomed or any other kind of comment, I really don't mind :) **


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"**We'll be Friends Forever, won't we, Pooh?' asked Piglet.  
'Even longer,' Pooh answered."  
― A.A. Milne, **_**Winnie-the-Pooh**_

It must have been round two weeks ago that Akira noticed it and it irked her more than she would have ever thought possible. Sure, Naruto did do prank, some more serious other practically harmless, but he was just an orphan who sought attention, it was nothing to get seriously upset about. However, the villagers did not seem to follow Akira's logic. They would glare at him and whisper curses, throw him out of shop, and that really made Akira wonder big time. There had been even some adults that had approached her and told her it was in her best interest to stay away from Naruto.

So Akira decided to investigate and she came up with only one word, _demon. _Now, most people would think that they were just trying to point out how annoying Naruto can be, but other, less heavy words did that to. No, demon was a choice word. It was used way to often to be just coincidental. But, the real question was, why?

"Akira, you're spacing out again," said Naruto with a grin while waving his hand in front of the girl's face. Akira sighed before swatting his hand away. He had omitted the –san a few days ago, not that Akira minded, though she still wasn't comfortable enough to do the same.

"Naruto-san, why do people dislike you so much?" It was meant as an innocent question and Akira really did not think it would upset the boy so much.

Almost immediately after the words left her mouth Naruto's position changed from relaxed to defensive in a matter of seconds. Akira grew confused but let him speak.

"I didn't do anything!" he defended. "I-I don't know," he said, clearly frustrated. "No matter what I do, nobody likes me, well; you talk to me and Jiji, and Teuchi and Ayame-chan! But! I want people to acknowledge me! Dattebayo!" Akira nodded.

"Is that why you want to be Hokage?" Naruto nodded. "Well, that's not a very good reason." Now it was Naruto's turn to look confused.

"But- Why?! How else am I gonna get people to acknowledge me?"

Akira shrugged. "I'm not saying it won't get people to acknowledge you, I'm saying that you won't be happy. Being Hokage, it's not all games and fun, from what I saw it includes a lot of paperwork and from what I read a lot of politic to. People will notice you, but do you really want that kind of attention?" she asked waiting for an answer.

Naruto didn't even think. "I know that! But, I want to be as great as the other Kages that protected this village! Like the Forth, he was a real hero of the Leaf and I'm gonna be even greater!"

"So you want to protect people?"

Naruto grinned. "Well, yes. I mean, true not a lot of people like me, but there still are a few who do and Konoha is my home and I wanna protect it!"

Akira grew a newfound respect for Naruto that day.

…

It wasn't long after Akira had started hanging out with Naruto that she noticed the increased hostility of the villagers towards Naruto and now her own person. It was less than what they did to Naruto, but it still wasn't fair, neither to Naruto nor her. Currently Akira was trying to find a clothing shop that would actually let Naruto buy something without overpricing it, so far no luck.

"It's alright Akira, I'm used to it, I just gotta save more money." Akira shook her head.

"It's not alright, you should say something to the Hokage about this," she snapped at him in irritation.

"I did once, it only got worse after that, I'm fine really! Honest! Dattebayo!" And there he went pretending to be happy again. Akira would probably never understand him, but he was a ray of sunshine in her life so she guessed it was fine.

"That's not-"

_Bark. Bark. Bark._

Akira turned to see a large brown dog barking up a tree, next to it a distraught Hana Inuzuka trying to prey the dog away from the tree. Looking up Akira saw a cat hissing down at the large canine that had probably chased it up there.

"Isn't she in our class to?" Akira spared him a quick glance before nodding.

"Yeah, Hana Inuzuka, I think that's one of her clan's ninken."

Naruto cutely title his head to the side. "Ninken?"

"Yes, ninja dog if you will. I'm going to see if she needs help." That was more rhetorical, it was obvious that she needed help. Naruto nodded anyway.

"Yeah, me to," he said following after Akira.

"Hana-san?"

Hana looked up only to see her class mate, Akira staring back at her. She honestly did not know what to make of the _boy. _He was always so silent and always in some corner reading. Not to mention the creepy bandana.

"Hello, Akira-san. As you can see, I'm a little busy..." she grumbled while pulling, without success at the big dog's leash. Akira sighed before moving over to stand next to the dog. Carefully, without gaining the dogs attention Akira put her hand at the nape of the large canine's neck and pushed down with all her force. Then she carefully kept the dog down and from lashing out at her, with if you took his growling into account is exactly what he wanted to do.

"Hana-san, bit of assistance please?" she asked.

Hana blinked away her surprised before pulling out a muzzle from seemly nowhere and put it on the now whining dog.

"Ha serves you right! That's was pretty quick, Akira!" shouted Naruto pumping his fist into the air. Akira closed her eyes while shaking her head, an amused smile forming beneath her bandana.

Hana meanwhile wasn't so amused. That Uzumaki kid, she had never really liked him and neither did her ninken. There was just something of about his scent. He was just a class clown who failed at everything he did, not to mention a trouble maker.

"Thank you for your assistance, Akira-san. If you will excuse me," she said curtly before dragging the muzzled dog away from the tree. Akira watched her go, an indifferent expression across her face, though she had seen the look she had given her blonde friend. Even if it was not as hateful as the villagers, she could tell it still bothered Naruto, even if he didn't show it.

"Sorry," mumbled the blonde causing Akira to raise a brow in his direction.

"Why are you apologising?" Naruto shrugged putting his hand into the pockets of his pants and kicking dirt with his foot, all the while staring at the ground.

"Naruto-san, none of this is your fault. Know this, whatever their reasons may be, I will _never _treat you that way," she said with a new found determination. Naruto looked up with a grin, but it was a sad one.

"Thanks."

"Come on now, help me get the cat out of the tree," she said pointing up towards the scared feline. Naruto nodded eagerly already climbing up.

"Naruto-san, you do know tree walking, ah! Never mind," she mumbled with amusement as Naruto reached the cat only for it to scratch him across his face.

...

"It's not fair," grumbled the blonde while walking beside his friend. Akira was currently holding the fur-ball of evil, I mean cat, while it gently purred clearly content with his new situation. Naruto on the other hand was still mad at it for the scratch mark it had given him, most of which had faded by now.

On further inspection Akira found a collar round the cat's neck with an address on where to drop it of in case it was found. Naruto at first refused to do anything for the cat, but quickly resigned after Akira offered to take him out for ramen afterwards. Akira looked at the houses before finally finding her destination.

"We are here."

Naruto and Akira stopped in front of a shop? It looked pretty run-down from what Akira could tell. On the front it read _Beneath the Underneath _gaining Akira's curiosity. Wasn't that something ninja's commonly used as a phrase? Look beneath the underneath, that is.

"Come on."

Naruto followed rather reluctantly. Once inside the cat jumped out of Akira's arms and quickly went up the steps that were on the right. The place was clearly a shop for ninja equipment. Albeit, the shop was a bit dusty and it looked like nobody had been in here in quite some time.

"_Mao, you had me worried. Ah, what is it, want to show me something?" _

Akira listened as somebody climbed the steps back down following after the cat which was obviously named Mao. Akira noticed Naruto's growing discomfort, but for now did nothing about it. He needed to face this, she concluded, it could either make him or break him, Akira would make sure it was the former.

"Ah!" cried an old lady as she finally climbed down looking over the two children in her shop, the one with short grey hair she did not recognise, but the other one would probably always stay in her memory. The container of the Kyuubi. Still she kept a smile on her face, and while she didn't hate the boy she wasn't exactly comfortable in his presence either.

"Hello there, my name is Tachibana Yuzuki. Ah, have you brought back my Mao for me thank you," she said smiling warming, but mostly in Akira's general direction.

The girl narrowed her eyes. "Pleased to meet you Tachibana-san, but actually, it was Naruto-san who rescued your cat."

Akira noticed the slight narrowing of the old woman's eyes before her gaze turned to the blonde next to Akira. Naruto had his gaze downcast, seeming more interested in the dirt and dust than in what the old lady had to say. Akira knew better, he wasn't trying to be disrespectful, he just knew how most people reacted to him.

"I see. Thank you then... Naruto-san," muttered the old lady as she quizzically eyed the boy in front of her, as if searching for something. There was an intensity in her gaze, Akira couldn't quite describe it, whether it was good or bad, however she could not tell yet. After a few more moments she seemed to resign, something in her eyes changed, it looked almost like recognition, whatever for Akira didn't know, nor care, at least she dropped the slight glare she had before.

"Say, are you two in the Academy?" Akira gave her a nod before nudging the silent Naruto. The blonde jerked slightly before nodding wildly.

"Yes!My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I'm gonna be Hokage, Dattebayo!" he shouted before blushing, realizing what he just said.

For a brief moment the old woman had a surprised look in her eyes before it faded into utter amusement, then she started laughing.

"Hokage you say? I haven't heard someone say such a thing in years," she said whipping a tear from her eye.

Naruto huffed. "You will see, I will make everybody acknowledge me! I will gain everybody's respect!"

A soft smile appeared on her face. "Respect, huh?"

Akira watched this exchange with a calculating gaze, never saying a word to interrupt. To her it seemed that those words struck a chord in the old woman. She looked at the blonde with whole new eyes. Then when she spotted a clock in the old dusty shop she realized the time. Unfortunately she would not get to figure out the woman today.

"Naruto, as much as I hate to interrupt, didn't you say you had to see the Hokage today?" she casually mentioned, not missing out on the slight surprise on the woman's face.

"That's right, I gotta see Jiji! Bye Akira, bye Yuzuki-baa-san!" And with those words he was out the door in a flash.

If the old woman hadn't been surprise d before she sure was now. "Baa-san?" Akira smile slightly.

"Naruto-san gets attached to people who are nice to him quickly." _Almost like a puppy actually, _she thought in amusement.

Yuzuki nodded.

"He isn't so bad, and while I don't know why so many people avoid him, I still don't think it's right and I never will. People should not hate an innocent boy who only wants attention."

"Is that so?" she mumbled softly. "There are many things you do not know, boy. People have reasons..." Akira refused to twitch at the wrong gender placement, instead she countered the woman.

"That may be, I'm just a kid after all right? Nobody has the right to judge another person for actions that were not their own."

And with that as her final statement Akira exited the shop leaving a stunned elderly woman behind.

The thing was, Akira's first thought on why people would hate Naruto is that it has something to do with his parents. Obviously since he was an orphan just like Akira he did not know them, but unlike Akira Naruto was born inside the village, while she had just been a two-year-old foundling that some Konoha shinobi took pity on.

_..._

_The following day_

"Akira, you don't have to defend me, you know?" said the blonde when they were resting after their training session, recalling yesterday's events. Akira spared him a quick glance before turning her gaze back in front of her, staring off into space.

"I know."

Naruto smile slightly. His friend was a strange one. Naruto could never really figure _him _out, but hey! _He _was his friend so Naruto didn't ask too many questions. It was sort of nice, he had never expect to get along with a person like Akira, but he wasn't complaining either. They were just so different, but in a good way, while Akira was too quite Naruto could be too loud. While Akira came on as cold and unfriendly, Naruto displayed a bright and cheerful personality. And yet it had been Naruto who was the lonely one, or maybe it had been them both? Naruto had never asked Akira much about _himself_, the only thing he knew was that Akira was an orphan just like him and really smart, but awfully lazy. That's when Naruto came into handy, he was a motivator of sort, always making sure Akira didn't slack of and always pushing them both to their limits, though that's when Akira sometimes had to step in and call it a day.

"Naruto-san, today at the academy..." Akira said looking back at today's target practice.

_Akira had been doing fairly well, not that she was trying, she would be rather taking a nap or reading right now then throwing these kunai at the stupid target. Akira was just doing her usual thing, meaning she wasn't doing overly excellent nor totally horrible, just enough for the instructor to give her a small and a keep practicing before moving on._

_She took some time to glance over to see how Naruto was doing only to see him missing every time. That got her curious, he hadn't done nearly as badly when they had practiced it a week ago, so what had changed? Maybe Naruto was trying not to stick out like she was trying to do? Hmm, she ought to ask him later..._

"So, were you?"

Naruto remained silent, after a few moments he sighed. "The kunai at the academy are different. Much harder to throw."

Akira gave him a look, "No, they are not. Who gave you the kunai you used?"

Naruto shrugged. "Jun-sensei."

Akira merely nodded. Guess she would have to schedule a meeting with the Hokage in the near future. Just because Naruto refused to say anything didn't mean she wouldn't.

"Naruto, in the future, if you need help, ask me first."

He just nodded.

...

**A/N. Thanks to everybody who followed, favourite and reviewed this story!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: When Naruto is thinking/talking about Akira I will write him/he/his in cursive, since Naruto still believes Akira to be a boy. (Picture of Akira as a genin is on my deviant, just clink on the link and it will take you there)**

* * *

Chapter 3 "_A faithful friend is a strong defense;  
And he that hath found him hath found a treasure."  
― Louisa May Alcott_

* * *

"This is going to be so cool Akira!" shouted the blonde boy, voice full of unhidden glee. Akira on the other hand wore a less cheerful expression on her face, though one could only tell by the way her eyebrow pressed together in annoyance. They were both currently carrying boxes filled with Akira's stuff and some with Naruto's, which honestly wasn't all that much, though Naruto still thought so.

Early that very same day the Hokage had spoken to them both, since he saw the positive influence Akira had on Naruto and the fact that she was Naruto's first and only friend he quickly thought of the idea for them to live together, since he had to find a new apartment for Akira anyway that gave him a good excuse in front of the council to move Naruto and her into a bigger apartment. (Much to Akira's displeasure.) Not that she didn't like Naruto, but the few times she had seen his apartment it was filled to the brink with trash. His untidiness was a thing she planned to change as soon as possible.

Another thing that had managed to annoy Akira was the fact that the Hokage didn't even bother to correct Naruto about her gender, oh no, the old man even had the nerve to laugh and go along with it! The only reason Akira didn't try and correct him was to see his face when somebody else did, but with her luck that was going to take years. Well, after she would go through puberty some things would be bluntly obvious, at least she hoped. Then again, Naruto _was _slow sometimes.

As they stood in front of the building Akira could see by observation a lot of people peeking out the windows of their apartments, she scoffed when she saw them quickly close the curtains as soon as they caught her gaze. Reluctantly she followed after Naruto and up the stairs to the fourth floor of the apartment looking for flat 4D. Akira was the one with the key, so she set down her boxes and unlocked the door. It was a fairly simple, two room apartment, one bathroom and a kitchen connected to an eating area, it was pretty neat and Akira couldn't complain, even Naruto seemed delighted. He immediately went to rush inside only to be stopped by Akira's voice.

"Naruto-san, since we will be living with each other from now on I want to set some ground rules."

Naruto stopped in the hallway turning to face the ever-serious Akira. He nodded as he prepared himself to listen.

"No shoes in the apartment, also we will be dividing the chores between ourselves," Naruto didn't seem happy about the mentioning of chores, but didn't voice any complains so Akira continued, "If you want to have people over please notify me in advance," Akira paused here when she noted his expression, but didn't comment, instead she said. "I think that should be all, should I think of something else I will tell you later, you have anything to add?" Naruto shook his head receiving a nod from the masked girl.

"Alright, let's set up this place," the sentence had potential to sound enthusiastic, if Naruto had said it, it probably would have, instead Akira sounded like she would be rather doing anything but that.

* * *

"Man, that took some time, but we are finally done!" Guess who shouted that one?

Akira grunted in agreement as she slumped into the worn out green couch, completely exhausted, something which Naruto never seemed to be. Akira idly wondered just how much stamina that boy really had. Stamina was good for a ninja, meant that they could work longer and improve more, something which the instructors in the academy didn't seem to notice. Akira frowned beneath the bandana as she thought her academy years over. She had done everything to appear average, not bad that she would stick out as a dead last (or that somebody would realize she was faking), but not good enough that she would wind up on top either. She was precisely where she wanted to be. In the middle, unnoticed, unbothered.

Then there was Naruto, the death last who probably trained more than the top shinobi in class, yet never quite managed to reach his full potential. Now, Akira was no jonin, hell, she wasn't even a ninja yet. She could point Naruto into the directions she knew about and thought were good for him, but she couldn't give him anything specific. She really hoped he would graduate though, but seeing as part of the graduation test was the _**Bunshin**_, which Naruto couldn't perform, it was questionable. Akira found a certain tightness in her chest whenever she thought about Naruto being left behind. It wasn't fair in her opinion. One of the biggest questions though, is, if the Hokage was so interested in Naruto and his well-being, then why not help him? He was after all the strongest shinobi in the village. Akira did want to think about it, but it seemed like even the Hokage was reluctant about Naruto being a shinobi. The question like always was, why in the world would everybody be afraid of letting a boy like Naruto be a shinobi?

"Naruto, have you made any progress with the _**Bunshin Jutsu**_?" Akira watched as his expression crumbled to a very frustrated visage.

Naruto kicked imaginary dirt with his feet after stuffing his hands into the pockets of his pants. "No," he muttered more to himself then her. She sighed, her head dropping against the back of the couch. She really did not know how to help him. It didn't make sense, he could perform the other two required jutsus, but when it came to the _**Bunshin **_he failed every time.

"Sorry," Akira found herself mutter. She had never really felt a need to apologise, but around Naruto, somehow him being her friend, just made thing different. Whether they were good or bad different she couldn't tell yet.

"Want to get some ramen?" Akira really didn't know why she wanted to cheer him up, but after she saw him smile it somewhat made her feel better. Friendship was going to be so difficult to deal with.

* * *

_1 year later_

As Naruto and Akira found themselves walking down the familiar streets towards the favourite ramen stand of the blonde he couldn't help but mule over the sudden changes in his life. And only because he chose to hide in trainings ground 14 at the right time!

Akira wasn't really an easy person to deal with. Naruto found _him _to be quite boring at times, but with enough persuasion he could get _him _to go with any crazy idea, well, maybe not too crazy. Akira also nurtured a personality of formalness; _he_ refused to address Naruto in a more familiar manner even after the blonde had dropped the honorific to Akira's name. At least _he_ didn't mind being addressed in a familiar fashion. Akira was gifted with good chakra control, something which _he _said to be because of his in comparison to Naruto low reserves, still, Naruto was jealous, it took Naruto a whole week to finally get the three climbing exercise to perfection like Akira could perform it and by the time he was done Akira had already mastered water walking which Naruto was still working on.

Then again, Akira got tired _a lot _earlier than Naruto did, but that may be due to _his _laziness, something which Naruto found to be really annoying at times. All Akira wanted to do every time they were free from the academy and training was sleep, but Naruto wanted to pull pranks. Admittedly, most the time Akira didn't participate in Naruto's _brilliant _(at least to the blonde) pranks, only sometimes, when the idea the boy present was enough to impress Akira in actually considering participation. That in return caused Naruto to come up with more complex prank and better escape plans, nowadays Naruto knew Konoha better than even the Hokage and ANBU combined. It was actually a game for the blonde to escape the ANBU in record time and lose them in the process, sometimes he even got Akira to measure time.

Another change in his life was surprisingly enough Yuzuki-obaa-san, as Akira called her (after much insistence, originally _he _stuck withTachibana-san) or rather Yuzuki-baa-chan as Naruto did. After their first meeting Naruto had not expected anything from her, albeit not ignoring him like all the other villagers, she wasn't exactly friendly to him either. Naruto had a high suspicion it had something to do with Akira, but his friend had kept quiet and simply said that _he _didn't know either what brought about the change in the old woman. Be that how it may, Naruto was glad to have one more friend and as it proved to be, Yuzuki-baa-chan was a _very _useful friend to have. Since she was a store owner for ninja gear she could supply Naruto and Akira with outfits, which had been a long discussing about why orange wasn't a colour suitable for a ninja to wear. In the end they came to a compromise. Naruto could wear _some _orange, but it had to be paired with a neutral colour like black or brown, heck even white would do (but only for winter condition) at which Naruto had tuned out Akira instead daydreaming about saving a princess in a snow storm.

Now Naruto was wearing a simply burn orange shirt with a swirl in the middle in black and simply black shinobi pants paired with black sandals (of which Akira convinced him he needed al least two pairs). Over the shirt Naruto now wore a black and orange sweatshirt with a zipper through the middle) and wore the thing unzipped to show off his _awesome _short. Akira just commented that he might as well wear a neon sign saying _please kill me, _then again, he did always manage to escape ANBU even in orange. Hmm…

Akira was another matter entirely; _he _had chosen todye _his_ hair in red, which turned out more hot pink than the desired colour which Naruto found to be hilarious even going as far as to call _him _girly at which Akira had merely twitched and refused to talk to him for two days straight. Then Akira thought it would be a good idea to let Naruto cut _his _hair, which according to the now pink-haired Akira was too long to be practical. Naruto ended up shaving off nearly half the hair on Akira's head. After that they decided to visit Yuzuki-baa-chan who thought the whole thing was hilarious before saying that Akira had a choice of either cutting off all hair or going with an Iroquois, of which Akira chose the latter. And found it to be a preferred hairstyle right now, coming back every once in a while for Yuzuki to trim it that way.

That was the explanation for Akira's hair, now as for _his _cloths, Naruto really couldn't say it was bad. Akira had always preferred dark colours, but Yuzuki-baa-chan seemed to have convinced _him _that it would be a good idea to go with a lighter colour theme this time. Now Akira sported a short-sleeve light green shirt (with that Cheshire smile printed on it) which in returned caused her to ditch her bandana and replace it with a light grey face mask _he _now also wore a plum coloured scarf and light grey shinobi sandals. Naruto thought it was an improvement even commenting that Akira looked more approachable now at which his friend commented that his vocabulary was more _approachable _now to. Little to say Naruto was not amused. Another thing was that Akira always carried that black bandana with the creepy toothy smile on it with _him. _Naruto really didn't get that, but he didn't ask either. Akira was mostly secretive and Naruto did not want to pry too much into his friend's privacy for fear of being annoying and Akira choosing not to speak with him again.

Now that they both were 9 Naruto had finally gotten Akira to take the final Graduation Exam with him. Akira had said that it would be too much trouble being a genin and than muttered something about D-Ranks, but Naruto had ignored _him _and instead began to talk about how it would be so cool to go on awesome missions and save princesses and the like. Akira had just stared at him after he was done, as if trying to figure something about, then _he _promptly sighed and walked away leaving a confused Naruto in _his _stead.

* * *

Akira has found that her friendship with Naruto was both nice and annoying at the same time. It was strange, how you could love and (almost) hate a person at the same time. Naruto while lovable most the time was also a pain other times. Akira found his pranks to be childish and stupid as well as his constant shouting which usually involved saying he was going to become Hokage or something about getting ramen. Then there were time when Naruto, yes, _the _blonde knucklehead, actually said something deep and meaningful and Akira always wondered why he acted like such an idiot if he was actually a rather sensitive and sensible kind of person. It took Akira a whole year to slowly tune down Naruto's personality, not that the blonde realized anything. She had taken an approach where she would basically reward good and _punish _bad behavior and it worked like a charm. Naruto's grades even got better and now they were both ready for the graduation exam, except, Naruto still could not do a single clone right.

"Naruto-san, I'm not sure, but I believe that if you perform above average on everything else your failure at Bunshin might be overlooked. I heard of a jonin who can't use ninjutsu and specializes in taijutsu instead. Perhaps we could find him and inquire how he passed the exam?" That was what Akira had suggested a year ago and boy was she regretting it entirely.

Maito Gai, the name of the taijutsu expert shinobi was an eccentric personality with a love for green jumpsuits and _youth. _Yes, Akira regretted looking for that man very much now. And while his personality left much to be desired upon, his taijutsu _was _impeccable, really, the man deserved the title master and then some. And his training methods were _brutal. _Really, Akira had a feeling that after this was done and over with T&I might seem like a walk in the park. She was beyond physically and over the top mentally exhausted each and every time they were done with _training _(*cough* torture *cough*). The mental damage Akira received whenever she saw the _Sunset of Doom _was irreparable as well, but at least Naruto was happy. Funnily enough even Naruto with his own quirks found Gai to be an overbearing character. At least he thought them to be _youthful enough _to tutor them. Actually, he was only meant to help Naruto, but somehow Akira had found herself dragged into this without her even realizing it at first. Oh, well, at least her crappy taijutsu was now much better (focused solely on speed, she didn't really pack a hard punch), even if the whole thing had been torture. At least they were pretty sure now that Naruto would be graduating as well.

The Hokage had of course been informed about the whole thing from the begging, after all, what better way to find a jonin then ask the guy in charge of all of them. Naruto had _kindly asked _(more like rudely demanded) that the Hogake, a.k.a. Jiji, tell them where they could find this Maito Gai person. After much persuasion (a.k.a. begging) from Naruto's part (Akira just didn't feel like even going out that day, let alone beg for anything) the Hokage reluctantly agreed. But, Maito Gai would only teach them if they (Akira had protested saying it was only for Naruto, but was ignored by both parties) could _impress _the jonin enough to actually take them on as _pseudo students_ (since they were both technically still in the academy).

The first time Akira looked upon Gai she was both shocked and intrigued, the latter died down after he had started his whole youth-speech. Youthful this, youthful that and her favourite, _Akira-kun, sleeping is most un-youthful! _Was that even a word? Un-youthful? Ah, whatever, she really couldn't care less. The only thing obvious was that her sensei clearly did not understand that she was in fact female.

"Akira-kun, your skill with weapons is most youthful. You aim is very precise!" Akira just ignored him proceeding with throwing weapons at the target. Sure her aim was good, but she though Gai was just over boasting it, much like everything else actually.

"Yeah Akira, Bushy-Brow-sensei is right, you could totally become an expert!" Leave it to Naruto to top thing of with his own enthusiasm.

"I really think you two are overdoing it, my aim isn't _that _good."

"Now you're just being modest, Akira-kun, the flames of youth shine brightly in you!"

And Akira had to restrain a shudder as the _Sunset of Doom _appeared yet again. But that did got her to think about experimenting with weapons. No, she did not want weapons to be her main and only source of attack, mostly because once you run out you're done for. But weapons (the throwing ones at least) could be useful backup, provided Akira got creative, but that included work and Akira would much rather be sleeping.

"Akira-kun, let's run a hundred laps round Konoha to get our flames of youth burning!" Then again, it could get her away from the crazy overenthusiastic sensei.

* * *

Naruto was another story, while at first skeptical about Gai and certainly even more after the first day of _training, _Naruto actually began to like his eccentric Nature, especially since Gai never looked at him like he was a nuisance. And he was funny, well, actually only to Naruto, Akira found him annoying, much to Naruto's chagrin. However, Naruto proved to be slower in picking up moves than Akira was. He thought that Gai-sensei was going to be mad at him, but as it turned out it was just the opposite actually. He began crying and spoke something about geniuses of hard-work. Naruto had lost him in that speech and asked Akira to _translate. _His friend merely explained that Gai was dead-last, much like Naruto and that he only managed to become jonin because he worked really hard in order to succeed. Naruto found himself stunned at the declaration, not expecting somebody with such mad taijutsu skills to have been the dead-last. Afterwards Naruto took Gai sensei's words much more to heart then before.

"Naruto-ku and Akira-kun, that was a most youthful workout! Yosh! Now out flames of youth truly burn brightly!" Naruto just grinned, not having the strength to answer him. It was like that every day before and after the academy. Akira and Naruto would train with Gai and everybody noticed how much stronger they were getting, well stronger in Naruto's case and faster in Akira's. On the first day of training Gai had asked them what they wanted to work on. Naruto wanted more force since he liked to fight up close and personal. Akira wanted speed since _he _liked to be stealthy and speed could get _him _out of sticky situations. Though Naruto had argued that he would always be there to have Akira's back at with Akira merely said that it might be that they don't end up o the same team. Little to say Naruto first freaked out then just got downright depressed about it.

"Naruto-san, we are still friends. And it's not like we won't be seeing each other. After all, we live together." That had made the blonde feel better, but only slightly.

"Who decides who end up on whose team anyway?" he asked his _know-it-all _friend (Akira had protested the title, but Naruto said _he _was much smarter than the blonde at which Akira had promptly shut up deeming it true much to Naruto's misery).

Akira had merely shrugged at the blonde unsure _himself, _"I'm not sure, but I think the academy instructors do it together with the Hokage."

Naruto's eyebrows shot up at that. "The old man?" Akira merely shrugged.

"Not part of what I know, I just assume since he also decided special teams for certain mission." Naruto just looked lost at which Akira promptly sighed.

"What don't you ask him yourself?" Akira inquired slowly.

Naruto shrugged a bit. "Maybe I will, but he is so _busy _lately. I hardly see him." Akira frowned, not that the blonde could see. It was true lately Naruto got to see his _jiji _less and less, mostly because the old man had too many meeting and no free time for Naruto. Then there was the birth of the Hokage's real grandson and Naruto had last seen the man when they wanted to know about Gai. Akira could tell he was hurt by it, but as usual Naruto his it behind a big grin and shoutings about becoming Hokage.

* * *

"My two most youthful students fear not, this is not the last time you shall see me. Once you become genin I shall still train with you in the mornings and if not I will run…" Akira tuned the man down, not only was he loud, but when he went on those speeches Akira really couldn't care less what he was going to do. Surprising was only that the man would _actually _do all those thing even if it was run a hundred laps round Konoha. Thankfully he had given up on trying to include Akira into those speeches. Naruto was another thing entirely.

"Yosh, Bushy-brow-sensei!"

"Naruto-kun!"

"Sensei!"

_HIT!_

"Don't either of you dare." She growled out as they both wined like children, Naruto holding his head, since he was the one to receive Akira's hit. The only reason the girl didn't hit her "sensei" was because the man was too tall and too fast.

"Damn you Akira, you and your hip and cool attitude!" Akira just stared at the older man, already used to the comment. Then suddenly the man looked her over before rubbing his chin.

"Now that I think about it you even look like my eternal rival, Kakashi! You even wear a mask, now if only your hair was silver." Akira sighed suddenly glad she stuck with dying it red (even if it came out hot pink instead).

"Akira's hair is actual- mmhmhmhmh." Naruto didn't get to finish as Akira slammed her hand over his mouth.

"Forgive me my most youthful students, but I have to go and find my eternal rival right now. It's been way too long since our last challenge."

Akira and Naruto watched as their sensei dashed off towards wherever before turning to each other. The two nine (nearly ten in Akira's case) year-olds were at a loss, then again, this _was _Gai they were talking about.

"Naruto-san, what do you say, are we going to try and pass now?" Naruto cheered loudly causing a few passing civilians to turn round and glare at him, not that the blonde noticed. He was way too happy about finally getting away from the hellhole, eh, I meant Academy.

* * *

**A/N: This story is going to be much more dramatic than my other ones. And yes, Gai because I love him, I don't know why, but there is something about his eccentric nature I just find lovable. Well, that and I had no other idea of how to make Naruto graduate without giving him kage bunshin this early on. Also a thing that's always bothered me is how little Naruto work and how much he accomplished (can you say cheat code?) Anyway! On a brighter note I finally got this story starting, sort of… Also, if anybody has a suggestion for the jonin sensei, do please say :) Until next time and remember**

_**Reviews are love! (And make me write faster ;)**_


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